Cheektowaga is a town in Erie County, New York. It is located in the north-central part of the county and is a suburb of Buffalo. The town has a population of approximately 77,000 and is the second-largest suburb of Buffalo after the Town of Amherst. Sex trafficking and prostitution have been well documented in the city and throughout the County – including within the town of Cheektowaga – for decades, often leading to complaints to police and prompting both local and federal investigations. For example, in April 2005, it was discovered that a man had arranged a limousine to transport at least a dozen prostituted women from Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga to a hotel in Niagara Falls, Canada, where a convention was taking place. The man was convicted in 2011 on federal sex trafficking charges. The charges resulted from a two-year-long federal investigation into an organization for prostitution, sex trafficking, and child sex tourism. Additionally, three men pled guilty to violating or conspiring to violate the Mann Act for taking an “illegal alien prostitute” from Buffalo, NY, to a Jester weekend party in Kentucky. As the result of the broader investigation, the defendant, with the local connection, admitted in his plea agreement to working with national Jester officers to make arrangements to transport the prostituted women from the Cheektowaga airport to Ontario for a national Jester meeting.

In August 2012, a man was arrested and charged with the sex trafficking of minors for acts that took place in various hotels in the towns of Amherst, N.Y., and Cheektowaga, N.Y. According to the criminal complaint, between 2010 and August 2012, The man recruited, promoted, and profited from the prostitution activities of two minor girls knowing — or in reckless disregard of the fact — that the girls were under 18. He also recruited, promoted, and profited from a third victim, a woman in her 20s. The criminal complaint further alleged that the defendant placed advertisements on backpage.com, and customers were charged $100 per half hour and $150 per hour. One of the minor female victims claims that the man kidnapped her for a week and physically assaulted her. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and local law enforcement in western New York.

In October 2016, eight women suspected of being part of a prostitution ring were arrested in a sting operation at a Cheektowaga hotel. The Cheektowaga Police Department participated in a collaborative effort with federal law enforcement as part of “Operation Cross Country,” described as a national effort by the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children targeting commercial sex trafficking. In the local sting, the women agreed to perform various sexual acts with an undercover detective for a fee. Two more individuals who transported the prostituting women were arrested and charged with false personation, having outstanding warrants, and drug possession. In August 2019, two men were sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to engage in the sex trafficking of minors in Cheektowaga. One offender managed an “escort” business that advertised two victims on backpage.com and, according to sentencing documents, did so knowing that both victims were minors who engaged in commercial sex during the appointments. The offenses occurred in January and February of 2015. The arrest and convictions were the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations. In March 2022, the owner of a “Gentlemen’s Club” in Cheektowaga was arrested on federal charges related to drugs, bribery, and sex trafficking.